Information by General Clinton of a quantity of butter taken from Brian Connor

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December 18, 1776.

Present: William Duer, Chairman, General Morris, Colonel De Witt, Captain Platt.

General Clinton informs the Committee that a quantity of Butter was deposited at Fort Montgomery, which had been taken from a certain Brian Connor, who had intended

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Josias Berkely appeared before the Committee, and informed them that he had left Long-Island last Monday se' nnight, at the request of Mr˙ Baltus Van Kleeck, of New-York; that he had sent him to Mr˙ Joshua Carman, his son-in-law, to inquire after his children; that, by what he could learn, there was only fourteen of the enemy' s Light-Horse upon Long-Island, and that it was said that Captain Woolley had inlisted one hundred men in the service of the enemy; that he had not taken the oath of allegiance; that he was never asked to take it; that he understood several persons in the Island had not taken the oath of allegiance; that the Continental money does not pass amongst them, but only gold, silver, New-York bills of the old emission, and the money struck by the Corporation for erecting water-works; that he had come immediately to Mr˙ Carman' s, who had carried him to two members of the Committee of Rumbout Precinct, who had examined him.

Captain Platt says, that Baltus Van Kleeck, with whom the examinant lives, is an equivocal character; that all the connections are equivocal; that at an election for a Committee in Dutchess County, where the question was, whether there should be a Committee or not, the examinant was of that party which voted against the Committee.

John Sligell, late of the city of New-York, Tanner and Currier, saith, that his father' s family and his own moved from the Bowery Lane, near New-York, shortly before the enemy landed in the city, to New-Rochelle; that after the enemy came to New-Rochelle they were turned out of doors by a Hessian officer, and again went to New-York; that after the enemy left New-Rochelle the examinant went there to see for his family; that he found them gone; that he waited a day and a half for an opportunity of sending to New-York for his clothes; that his wife came there by water with design of inquiring for him; that they concluded she should return and endeavour to send out his clothes, and come out as soon as possible; that she accordingly went on board Peter Schenck' s boat, at New-Rochelle; that Schenck persuaded him to go along, promising to see him safe back; that he went with them, landed near the ship-yards at New-York, and went to his father' s house, staid there a night, got his clothes, and sailed with the said Schenck the next day, and landed at the City Island, from whence he came by land to this place, and is going to Pennsylvania to see his uncles and aunts; that it was agreed between him and his wife, that she, with her child, should leave New-York the first opportunity and come to New-Rochelle; that she should send word to her cousin, John Harbeck, who lives with a currier here, and that on his return from Pennsylvania he should go down to New-Rochelle and fetch her, and that Harbeck should fetch her in case examinant should not return at the time expected; that women are permitted to go out and into New-York without interruption; that he served as a Corporal in Captain Leonardos Company, in Locker' s Regiment, in General Scott' s Brigade.

JOHN SLIGELL.

Resolved, That John Sligell be put on his parole not to cross the river without the permission of this Committee, and to appear before this Committee every Saturday evening, at five o' clock, till further orders.

A Letter from Colonel Luddington, dated December 17th, 1776, was read, in which he informs, that a certain Akins is come from the enemy' s Army, and has brought a number of protections to the neighbours. Likewise a Letter from Alexander Kidd, Mathew Paterson, Roswell Wilcox, John Young, giving the same information.

The Letters being read, the Committee came to the following Resolutions:

Resolved, That Colonel Luddington and Mr˙ Mathew Paterson be requested and authorized to cause David Atkins, and all other persons whom they have good reason to suppose have received protections from the enemy, forthwith to be apprehended, disarmed, and brought before this Committee, and that they diligently search their houses and persons for papers, and that they transmit to this Committee all such as are of a suspicious purport; and further, that a Lieutenant and twenty-five men be sent to the above gentlemen, in order to assist them in carrying this Resolution into execution.

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Resolved, That Colonel Brinckerhoff be requested to detach from his regiment of Militia twenty-four men, of known attachment to the cause of America, commanded by an active and intelligent Lieutenant, and that the said officer parade his men at two o' clock to-morrow afternoon, at the house of Colonel Abraham Brinckerhoff, there to receive further orders from this Committee.

Ordered, That a copy of this Resolution be immediately sent to Colonel Brinckerhoff.

Ordered, That the Chairman lay before the Convention, the above Letters.

Jeremiah Scribner delivered the Committee a Letter from the Committee of Fredericksburg, transmitting a charge against a certain Jeremiah Bayley, whom they had sent under guard.

Ordered, That Jeremiah Scribner deliver the above-mentioned Jeremiah Bailey to the Officer of the Guard, who is directed to keep him in safe custody till further orders.